Stramba

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Isola Bella & Stresa

If you could see where I’m sitting right now…on my balcony viewing the lake, small villages across the way and of course the Alps, you wouldn’t want to leave either. Tomorrow, we are on to Verona- the city of Romeo and Juliet. I have to say, I’m sad to leave Lago Maggiore.This place is beautiful and I feel our time here has been too short.

This morning, I had the opportunity to sleep in- yet didn’t. Ugh. My body managed to decide waking up at 6 a.m. Italy time was somehow okay.My mind on the other hand was screaming “why?” Over the last few days sleep has been few and far between the hours of sightseeing and tours. Today could have been my day to catch up, however it was a fail. So, I continue to be slap happy and live on little sleep, which I somehow manage to do quite well. Now that I’m rambling on, let me get back to what we did today… We took a walk along the lake front to the dock where we boarded a boat that took us to Isola Bella (one of the three islands on this gigantic lake).This is the island castle/ home of the Borromeo’s (Italian royalty from centuries ago that still exits according to our tour guide, the princess and prince are somewhere in their seventies and have children and grandchildren).This island is basically a huge home with 25 rooms that we toured and over 100 that we didn’t tour that the family still visits and stays in during the months of August.All I have to say is: Hi, can I become part of your family? I too would like to be a princess and own my own island someday. Sheesh.

The gardens were (I’m sure you’re sick of hearing me say it-) gorgeous and the views from the island were---- yea yea you get it. Take a look at my pictures…like I said before- my description does no justice to the actual sites. The garden also has it’s own family of peacocks. Funny story actually. My mother is deathly afraid of birds and two of the males began to fight over their territory as she was walking along.They ran right in front of her and my sister, both of them ran off screaming. But, the good news is we got to see one of the males spread his feathers… he was showin’ off…my mother cursed him out loud.

After returning from the garden, we did some shopping in the marketplace located on the island and we then gathered our family members and belongings to disembark from my- I mean the Borromeo’s castle. We then walked around the city of Stresa, which is well- adorable, it reminded me of Beauty and the Beast when Belle walks through the town I wanted to break out in song: “Tiny streets, full of little people, waking up toooo say…. Bonjour”….oh sorry that movie takes place in France. My bad. You get the picture though.Of course at this point my father’s mind was solely on food and food alone, darn Italian. All these cute boutiques and he wants to eat soooo- we ate. At this point, I feel as if all we do is eat. And if we’re not eating, we’re drinking and if we’re not drinking (by drinking I mean wine) we’re having, cappuccino, expresso…ugh if my stomach isn’t full I’m on a constant crack high as the Italian coffee is so strong it sends me through the roof.My hands start to shake and I’m ready for a 20 miles run…luckily right now with my lack of sleep this does wonders…

Again, I’m rambling. Soooo, after lunch we continued shopping, found a phone card for E.T. (my sister) to “phone home” or should I say Mike… HAHA.And then I stupidly shoved gelato down my throat so now I’m extremely full. My sister and mother want to walk to the cable car that takes you up the mountain for a supposedly “great view”, but I can’t even move…they deserted me at the hotel and I’m now relaxing…

I just might be…whining. In all seriousness, why leave Lago Maggiore? I’m in heaven. Oh and by the way, in case one doesn’t know- yes my great aunt and uncle are with us, real joys I must admit and quite hilarious …